Compiled from staff and wire reports

Ohio collects record $21 million in debts

COLUMBUS - Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's office collected a record $21 million owed to the state in June, his office reported Tuesday.

The attorney general is responsible for collecting all the state's outstanding debts - everything from unpaid corporate taxes to overdue book fines.

The record collections are the result of "beefed-up" training for debt collectors and giving investigators more decision-making power, said Petro spokesman Mark Gribben.

Gribben also said a story published in the Enquirer helped spur the attorney general to fix the way the state collects money. The May 18 article uncovered $346 million in misspent taxes over the last four years and highlighted problems in the state's ability to get the money back.

The office's collections averaged $3.9 million a week over the last three months, up from $2.9 million a week over the same time period last year.

The attorney general has also recently filed four lawsuits against state contractors accusing them of misspending public funds.

Another lawsuit has been filed against a Toledo based foster care company, V. Beacon Inc. A state audit showed the company lost $670,000 to bad investments and spent $70,000 in foster care funds on a Mercedes-Benz.

Attorney to run for Ohio 55th House seat

HAMILTON - Bill Coley, who has been active in the Butler County Republican Party, announced Tuesdaythat he will seek his party's nomination for the 55th Ohio House District seat that will be vacated next year by Gary Cates.

Coley, a West Chester Township resident, is an attorney who has served as vice chairman of the Butler County GOP.

Liberty Township trustees Bob Shelley and Christine Matacic also are running for the Republican nomination for Cates' seat.

The district includes West Chester and Liberty townships, Monroe, Lemon Township and a portion of Sharonville that's in West Chester Township.

Cates must leave the state House next year because of the term-limits law. He is running for the state senate.

Flood-damage office closed in Hamilton

HAMILTON - The temporary office in Hamilton that accepted applications for federal and state financial assistance to cover uninsured damages sustained by victims of the June 14-15 flooding closed Tuesday.

More than 200 people had visited the office that the U.S Small Business Administration and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency had set up at Wilson Middle School, said William Turner, director of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency.

Now that the temporary center is closed, flood victims who want SBA loan applications can call (800) 545-0553. Those who don't qualify for SBA loans can apply for Ohio's individual disaster assistance grants.

Police confiscate marijuana plants

FAIRFIELD - The Butler County Sheriff's Office snagged 28 "large, extremely well-cared-for" marijuana plants after deputies in a helicopter spotted them, Detective Monte Mayer, sheriff's spokesman, said Tuesday.

Deputies seized the plants Tuesday morning from a field near Ohio 4 and Bypass 4, Mayer said, in the area of the old Acme drive-in.

No one had been arrested as of Tuesday evening.

Investigators were still trying to determine who may have been growing the plants.

Picnic Sunday for Armco families

MIDDLETOWN - The Armco Employees Independent Federation Inc. will hold a family picnic Sunday.The picnic, which drew nearly 4,000 members and their families last year, will be at Armco Association Park on Ohio 741. Current and retired employees of the steel mill and their families are welcome, along with members of Concerned Armco Retired Employees (CARE) and their families.

The events begin at 9 a.m. They include children's activities, a motorcycle run, golf scramble, fish-off derby and classic car cruise-in, along with a 6 p.m. performance of the Van Dells.

Information: (513) 425-4720.

Peacemaker chorus to perform in Oakley

Peace educator Paulette Meier of Northside and the newly formed "Chorus of Young Peacemakers" will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday at Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship, 4229 Brownway Ave., Oakley.

The free concert will feature songs from Meier's 2002 Parents' Choice Award-winning CD Come Join the Circle: Lesson Songs for Peacemaking. Meier's songs promote violence prevention, conflict resolution, social justice, anger management and problem solving.

Her main market is teachers for use in the classroom. Donations made at Sunday's concert will benefit "Moms and Dads for Peace," a Cincinnati group affiliated with the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center.

For information, go to Web site.